Making small square holes

[David Weaver]

Can hollow chisel mortiser chisels be taken apart (i.e., can you take out the drill bit?). You might be able to get a cheap one if they can, take the drill bit out and sharpen it.

[Daniel Rode]

Yes, they can be taken apart but I don't have one. I sold my mortising machine a few years ago.

Can hollow chisel mortiser chisels be taken apart (i.e., can you take out the drill bit?). You might be able to get a cheap one if they can, take the drill bit out and sharpen it.

[Bruce Haugen]

Daniel,
I'd get the punches that Mike showed. I've done at least that many at a time for several sets of mission-style night stands that had a zillion square spindles. I don't ever want to do that again without at least a square punch. Actually, if I ever do those again I'm going to say the heck with it and get a hollow chisel mortiser. It's just too much of a pain in the butt.

[Brian Thornock]

Actually, in his season 2 book, Tommy Mac made his own punch out of square steel stock. If you are just looking to establish the corners to a short depth, mild steel would work, though you will need to touch it up now and again. 1/4" square stock dirt cheap from lots of places. Would I do it? Probably not, but it could be done and would be cheap.

[Jim Belair]

Yes, they can be taken apart but I don't have one. I sold my mortising machine a few years ago.

You can get just get one bit then. Half the cost of the square chisel and they should be up to the task for this one project. http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/pag...40,53317,41702

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[Hilton Ralphs]

You can get just get one bit then. Half the cost of the square chisel and they should be up to the task for this one project

The advantage of this is that you get a free drill bit and the mortising part acts as a guide to make sure you don't wander about so they're pretty accurate for this application. The sharpening cones are useful for other stuff too.

[Jack Curtis]

I chop very small holes for kumiko in shoji, and a lot of them; so why not use a 1/4" mortising chisel.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Dan,
Go ahead and give it a shot on some scrap using the drill and chisel clean up method. I did this on a Mission bench with 28 such mortises. It really did not take that long to chop them square. Plus, you're not going all the way through- just enough for the tenon. I think I even played with chopping some using a mortise chisel, but I got more consistent results with drilling first.

[Daniel Rode]

Here's the results of drilling a 1/4" hole and squaring the edges with a 1/4" chisel. It only took 2 or 3 gentle taps on each side to get to the bottom. Carefully laying out the lines with a knife took some time but I'd want to do that no matter what. The chisel work was about 30 seconds per hole. I chopped the 2 sides and then used a 1/8" chisel to clear the debris. The knife lines really made it easy to register the chisel properly.

I just need to be slow and methodical real pieces and I think they'll turn out fine.

Small_mortise-2.jpg
Here's the joints open. The test pickets and rail are full size except for the length.

Small_mortise.jpg
Assembled they came out straight, square and snug with just a tiny bit of fitting

[Maurice Ungaro]

Good job, Dan!